Wrestling | 1/8/2015 6:17:00 PM
OLYMPIA, Wash. – The New Mexico Highlands wrestling team (1-0) kicks off two tough weekends of competition when it travels to Olympia, Washington, to participate in the college portion of the Gut Check Duals. The Cowboys will wrestle duals at 9 and 11:30 a.m. on both Friday (Jan. 9) and Saturday (Jan. 10) and also Friday night at 8 p.m.
Highlands takes on NCAA Division III Pacific (Oregon) (0-6) and NAIA Warner Pacific (2-8) on Friday morning before taking on #19 Highline CC (1-4) that night. The Cowboys finish up with South Puget CC and NCAA Division II (and fellow Western Regional opponent) Simon Fraser on Saturday.
"This is an all-inclusive trip to Washington," head coach
Doug Moses explained. "We have a little bit of recruiting to go along with our competition as well as we are exposing our program to the northwest. We have several Washington wrestlers and they have no four-year program in the state so this is a good opportunity to get our name out there."
The Cowboys have five Washington wrestlers on the roster, including the lone senior,
Easton Hargrave (Littlerock, Washington).
"We have a mixed bag of competition as we have Simon Fraser in our region as an NCAA Division II program," Moses said. "We also have one NCAA Division III school, an NAIA school and a pair of community colleges. We will be very busy with that, but also the Gut Check Dual High School competition that we are wrestling in conjunction with.
"It will be a busy weekend, but I think it will pay off for us. We are looking forward to the trip and competition," Moses added.
The Cowboys started the dual portion of their schedule fast with a win 35-15 win against #19 (NAIA) Wayland Baptist this past Sunday (Jan. 4). Hargrave knocked off #12 Michael Napier at 184, 10-5.
"The purpose of the dual was to get exposure in other areas of the state, but to also use it as a fundraising event," Moses explained. "It was a success as we won the dual coming off of a hard week of practices after the break. Overall, we were pleased with the event and with the support.
To read about the dual against Wayland Baptist, read
here.
After the dual, redshirt sophomore
Luis Terrazas was named the Subway Athlete of the Week after recording a third period pin against his opponent.
To read more, click
here. In the duals, it could end up being a busy day for redshirt sophomore
Cody Marquez on Friday at the heavyweight class. Chico Adams for Warner Pacific is ranked #13 in NAIA while Ben Tynan for Highline CC is ranked third in the NJCAA. Also for Warner Pacific, Eric Lunan is ranked fifth at 149 pounds while Joshua Crager at 133 is coming off being named the national NAIA Wrestler of the Week.
"In wrestling, there are tough kids all over at different institutions. It doesn't have to be an NCAA Division I or II school," Moses said. "Some great wrestlers go NAIA or to community colleges for one reason or another. Then sometimes they transfer to four year institutions. In the sport of wrestling, you have great competition on all levels. There are usually 2-3 great wrestlers at least in every program so we will see great competition this weekend."
The Cowboys continue its busy part of the schedule next weekend when they travel to Kearney, Nebraska, for the Nebraska-Kearney duals.
